Glossary Term – Event

Tens of thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from California and the Southwest were “repatriated” to Mexico between 1929 and 1939. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican descent were forced to leave the US without due process.

Glossary Term – Event

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 categorized immigrants and restricted immigration. It also gave the government the authority to deport immigrants or naturalized citizens who engaged in “activities of a political nature detrimental to the interest of the United States.”

Glossary Term – Organization

The Immigration Restriction League (IRL) was an anti-immigration organization founded by a group of Harvard graduates in 1894. Members of the organization believed that immigration contributed to social problems such as urban crowding, poverty, crime, and labor unrest, and the IRL advocated a literacy requirement for immigrants as a way of limiting the entry of “new immigrants” from eastern Europe into the United States. In 1896, the IRL acheived passage of a Congressional literacy bill with the support of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of...

Glossary Term – Person

Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) became the twenty-first president of the United States upon the assassination of President James Garfield. Arthur was elected on the Republican ticket as Garfield’s vice president in 1880 and became his successor when Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881. During his presidency, Arthur denounced patronage in favor of merit-based government appointments and promotions, supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. He also signed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, suspending Chinese immigration for...